


Willows

by Terminallydepraved



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Angst, Flirting, Innuendo, M/M, Oral Sex, Penetration, Smut, dream eater au, dream eater!chrollo, hxh weekly prompt, petting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-25 07:38:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7524148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terminallydepraved/pseuds/Terminallydepraved
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hisoka finds what comes when you sleep beneath a willow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> just my contribution for this weeks hunterxprompt thing. its on the longer side so i decided id post this here as well.

Hisoka lay back in the soft grass of the roadside, far too drowsy from the warmth of the day to keep moving. Dusk was but a thought away, her dark, opportunistic fingers already melting the sky into something shot through with orange, red, and purple. He watched the clouds saturate with the color, the boughs of the willow overhead cutting melancholic lines through the visage.

His mother had always warned him to never linger beneath a willow. They were trees of mourning, she would say. They sang with the funerals and snapped like whips.

Wind caressed him and tickled the grass, carrying on it a sweet, earthy scent. It was in moments like this, quiet and alone, that Hisoka felt he could almost understand the concept of God, and the dullness of yielding to superstition. He was so very comfortable, and he welcomed the quickly descending night, and all that it brought.

The willow, melancholic and watchful over his head, was the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes.

He could tell he was dreaming almost instantly, the blackness of his mind a comforting darkness just waiting to be filled. Above him, he could still see the outlines of the willow branches, their heavy despondence a sobering presence overhead. Hisoka drifted through the meaningless black, adding some color as he walked.

Lanterns popped up wherever his feet fell, creating a train of luminescent breadcrumbs to mark his path and distance. It was comfortable, the emptiness before him. Quiet. Calm. A blank canvas to whatever might strike his fancy once he had tired of the solemnity.

A laugh sounded in the darkness behind him, and Hisoka turned on his heel, wondering what had arisen.

If he had worried about becoming bored, the thoughts were unfounded. Laying on what counted for the ground was a figure, dressed entirely in red. While Hisoka’s back was turned, the lights springing from his steps had gathered around the person, as if called by the sheer brilliance of his image.

Hisoka turned back and made for him, as much a moth to this flame as the flames themselves were.

Pale skin as white as moonlight shone with a luminance that rivaled even the strongest candle.

He wanted to touch. He wanted to feel if the pale creature felt as soft as he looked. It was his dream, Hisoka reasoned. If he wanted it, he could do it.

Dark eyes pinned him in place before he could so much as extend his hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the man asked.

Hisoka balked, non-plussed. “I wanted to touch you,” he answered, kneeling down to be at eye level with the figure. “What are you doing? I never expected something like you to appear in any dream of mine.”

A small, demure smile passed over pale lips. “You think you created me? How quaint. You’re right to think it unlikely.” His slender hand with fingers like porcelain brushed back a lock of hair, as dark as midnight. “Even someone like you could scarcely imagine something like me.”

With an attitude like that, Hisoka was hard pressed to be anything but intrigued. He looked around at how the dream seemed to bend to suite the man best, changing at the seams with his every move. “What are you then?” he asked, inching closer. “And why are you in my dreams?”

Ink-toned eyes stared straight through him, as if Hisoka were the one made of thought and ephemera. “I’m hungry,” he gave, smoothing his hands down his carmine robes, perhaps unintentionally shifting the fabric to split along his thigh. Hisoka could only stare at the perfect skin, the desire to touch only growing worse. “I’m trying to decide what to eat.”

That answered nothing at all, but the confusion was almost worth it for the beautiful picture the man made. He was doll-like, his eyes and expression so very measured. “What are you in the mood for?” Hisoka asked helpfully, utterly charmed.

Something shifted in the dreamscape, the amorphous shapes churning in the background into something just slightly skewed. Dark eyes pinned him in place, and for a moment, Hisoka wondered if he could die in a dream and never wake up.

“I was considering a nightmare,” the voice said, a laugh coloring the tone threatening. “I can tell by just looking that there are plenty of ingredients to work with. You’re a rather fascinating character.”

A ripple of real fear tingled along his spine, like a cold fingertip dragged down his skin. It made him shiver, and Hisoka grinned widely, moving forward until he had the man boxed in between his arms and the ever-shifting floor. His hand rested on that naked thigh, taking in the skin as smooth as satin.

“That would be an awfully cruel thing to do, just to eat a meal,” Hisoka whispered, almost losing himself in the dark depths staring up at him. “Why don’t you try something else? I’m sure I could make this dream very sweet for you and me both.”

And for a moment, it almost seemed as if the dream-eater was considering the proposition. The thigh in his grip shifted to tighten around his hip, a delicate, bare foot brushed along his calf. “I’m a fairly cruel thing,” the creature sighed, that damning smile still on his lips. “Maybe if you ask me nicely, though. You’re far more interesting than most of the dreamers I happen to speak to.”

Hisoka couldn’t resist the siren’s call of the creature’s swanlike neck, teasing his mouth along the cool skin. “What’s your name, sweet one?” he asked, crooning into the delicate shell of an ear. “So that I can beg to you properly to spare me.”

Preening like a cat, the dark eyes closed. “I am called Chrollo,” he breathed, his voice going soft with the ministrations.

As close as they were, Hisoka almost missed the way Chrollo’s lips quirked into a smile. What the proximity denied him in that though, he more than made up for in other ways. Beneath his hands, the body vibrated with suppressed laughter.

“What’s so funny, Chrollo?” he asked smoothing back the dark bangs to kiss the grinning lips. “I haven’t even begun my pleading.” His hand ventured higher, following the thigh until he nearly had the creature’s robe untied.

Cool hands flitted through the air like moth wings, alighting on his cheeks to hold him in place. “Your time is almost up, is all,” Chrollo laughed, pulling him down for one last kiss as the dark world around them began to melt away. “And to think, I didn’t even get my meal.”

Hisoka’s eyes went wide and he tightened his grip on the flesh in his hands, unwilling to let him go so soon. “Will you be back?” he asked, rushed. He could feel wakefulness tease him, already beginning to feel the outside breeze against his hot skin.

Chrollo shushed him, stroking his fingers through his hair. “Perhaps in another dream,” he smiled, fading away into the dream’s shadowy remains. “I expect a good meal next time.”

Hisoka didn’t have the time to be disappointed. He opened his eyes, already too awake to retreat back into the warm embrace and even warmer body that was already lost to him. Had it really been a dream?

The willow tree had no answers for him, its thin, melancholic branches sighing like a spectre in the calm night breeze. Stars glimmered teasingly through the boughs, their bright silver light as pale as the creature and just as unattainable. Hisoka sat up and sighed.

No wonder there were stories told about sleeping beneath a willow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah so the reception was nice on this and i had more ideas for it so why not. have ur fuckin smut.

It was after the second week of sleeping under willows that Hisoka began to admit to himself that he perhaps was a little bit obsessed with the memory of pale limbs and night-black eyes.

He nestled down into his pack and stared up at the melancholic boughs overhead, the sight now as familiar to him as an old friend. The night was encroaching slowly as it did in mid-summer. The branches swayed gently on a warm breeze, doing their best to show off to him before the dark took his sight.

Hisoka smiled softly and closed his eyes anyway, a feeling in his chest telling him that tonight would be different.

Tonight, he would see him again.

The thrill of anticipation was almost enough to chase sleep from his mind. He let out a sigh and schooled his body, keeping himself relaxed. Hisoka was an old hand at this by now. He had to be, since sleep brought the potential of something so sweet near. Starlight danced through his eyelids, blanketing him with a weight almost felt. Cool and familiar, he let it coax him towards sleep.

He knew almost instantly that he had been right.

Lucid dreaming was something he’d learned on a whim as a child, and even now, he could tell that this dream was holding him in thrall instead of the other way around. That in itself told him that somewhere, be it coming or hiding, lay the object of his obsession.

Black pseudo-space stretched in every direction for an indeterminable distance and Hisoka searched for his bright, elusive star in this endless nightscape.

“Chrollo?” he called out, like he’d done every night since the night they had met. “Are you here?”

Silence greeted him, if he could call it that. In here, sound didn’t have much meaning. Thoughts echoed louder than verbalized words, flavoring the air with their intent. He tasted as he moved, aching for the sweetness he knew was lurking somewhere, just out of sight and perception.

He froze in place when a soft presence brushed past him, mussing his hair gently. “ _Come find me_ ,” the breeze lilted. _“Let’s play a game.”_

Hisoka grinned and narrowed his eyes, thrumming with his want enough to tinge the air around him. He hoped Chrollo could taste it too.

One would think there wouldn’t be anywhere to hide in an environment of nothing but flat blackness, but Hisoka knew better than to let the surroundings fool him. He closed his eyes and let his senses guide him, knowing the cadence of Chrollo’s breathing far better than his own.

 _“Cold,”_ the unspoken voice laughed, and Hisoka ignored it, knowing the creature was only trying to trick him. _“Cold, colder, you’re going to freeze to ice if you keep this up.”_

“That’s okay,” Hisoka murmured, knowing he was close. The air was rippling around him, the waves and vibrations of Chrollo’s presence as loud as a thunderclap like this. “I’ll have you to warm me up once I find you.”

 _“If you find me,”_ came the smug reply, and Hisoka opened his eyes.

And there he was, seated on the ground in a ripple of decadent fabric and mirth. Hisoka didn’t wait for a greeting. The moment he saw the pale, elusive creature lingering on the fringe of his dream, he made for him, taking him in his arms as if he had been starving for his touch.

“I see you found me,” Chrollo commented, turning in his arms to lean against his chest. He still wore his luxurious, opulent robe, this one a muted purple that bled into the air around them. “How many willows did you sleep under in hopes of stumbling upon me again?”

“Too many,” he crooned, coaxing them fully to the ground. He drew his mouth along the cool, graceful neck, drinking him in. “I’ve thought of little but you. Did you think of me?”

It was heady hearing the dream eater let out a breathy little sigh. “You know,” he began tilting his head to let Hisoka have more room to work, “you are the only dreamer who has ever tried to touch me. That’s something hard to forget.”

“Like this, or at all?”

Chrollo met his eyes, a nervous little quirk to his perfect Cupid’s bow lips. “At all,” he admitted.

The information fell like music to his ears and Hisoka smiled hungrily. “So I’m the first to have you? What an honor,” Hisoka said. “I can’t think of a sweeter dream than this. You’d forgive me if I have a little fun, wouldn’t you? It is my dream after all.”

Chrollo rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be guided down and laid out temptingly. His slender hands came up to card through Hisoka’s hair, his bottomless eyes assessing. “But what will I have? I was cheated out of a meal the last time we met.” His hands tightened a bit, and he forced Hisoka’s face up and away from his skin. “Do you intend to feed me this time around?”

“What are you in the mood for?” Hisoka breathed, drawing back on what he had said before, the first time they had met.

“What if I want a nightmare?” Chrollo asked, his eyes slowly trailing down Hisoka’s chest, taking in all that was before him.

Hisoka drew his hand down that tempting, smooth thigh, hiking it up to settle around his waist. “Let me see if I can’t guide your taste to something a little less hazardous to our time together,” he chuckled, his other hand going for the silken tie at the creature’s waist. “I’d be hard pressed to have a nightmare when you’re within my reach.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, the ghost of a blush colored the creature’s pale cheeks. The shadows of the dreamscape twisted and contorted around them, roiling in time to their shared breaths.

“You’d be surprised what I can command, if I wish it to be,” Chrollo murmured, melting into the kiss Hisoka gave. A definite pink stained his skin when they pulled apart. “I suggest you make this worth my time.”

That was all the permission Hisoka needed to reach for the robe and tug the knot open, unwrapping the pale, slender body like a gift freely given. Purple silk blanketed the ground, surrounding Chrollo in a sea of violet night. He lay like a star among the expanse, as bright as moonlight, but for once, the moon seemed within his reach.

The smooth, beautiful thighs came up immediately to preserve his modesty, but it was too late for something like that to deter Hisoka from taking his fill. He kissed the breath from Chrollo, using his hands to gently coax his thighs to open.

“You must be a creature of dreams, because I can scarcely imagine anything as beautiful as you existing in the waking world.”

Chrollo flushed bright, shoving Hisoka’s face away to hide his own in his billowy sleeves. His thighs shook a bit, spread wide as they were. “Keep that up and I’ll steal your sanity,” Chrollo mumbled through the fabric, sounding far less confident and composed than he had before.

With a cocky grin, he shucked his shirt and tossed it away. Hisoka settled in between his parted legs, pressing a kiss to his inner thigh. “I think you’ve already done that well enough, so no need to exert yourself,” he teased, nipping a little to make him jump. Soothing the sting with his tongue, he drank in the sight of Chrollo so open and receptive below.

Whining softly, Chrollo lay bashful beneath him. Violet fabric cut across his body in deep strokes, doing little to truly hide him from Hisoka’s hungry eyes. He gave a gentle lick to the blushing creature, delighting in the sound it wrung from bitten lips. While Chrollo was distracted, he went for his pants, shoving them down enough to free his hard cock to the open air.

“What are you doing?” Chrollo asked, dragging the sleeves from his eyes so he could see. His hips bucked upwards, searching for more despite the embarrassed look on his face. Though he tried to hide it, he could feel Chrollo drag his eyes along his naked body.

“Enjoying you,” Hisoka laughed. “Are you enjoying the view?”

Chrollo glared, but it shattered like glass when Hisoka took him in his mouth to see what lovely noises it bought him. He wasn’t disappointed. Chrollo gasped, his entire body jolting. Pale skin shifted beautifully, the thighs in his hands doing their best to gain leverage enough to move. Hisoka breathed through his nose and rolled his tongue along the length, humming just enough to make the dream eater cry out.

As lovely as the purple was, desperation suited Chrollo far better than any color could.

The entire dream shook at the edges when he dipped his fingers lower, finding the dream eater wet and hot and wanting. Pulling off to free his mouth, Hisoka kissed a sharp hipbone, chuckling. “Are you naturally this eager, or is this really just my perfect dream?” he asked, sliding in three fingers with ease.

Chrollo looked just as curious as he did, though a few measures more embarrassed at the prospect of answering. “Don’t say things like that,” he moaned, riding the fingers with small, shuddering movements. “This is your subconscious. I can’t help it if you’re filthy minded.”

“I think you like it,” Hisoka teased, giving him a kiss as he retracted his fingers.

Taking a trembling thigh in hand, Hisoka turned Chrollo onto his side, lifting his leg to bare his entrance. He braced a hand on the smooth fabric at the creature’s shoulder, rubbing teasingly against him until Chrollo was arching into him, whining and begging for him to just do it.

“Do you want me, Chrollo?” he asked, mouthing a delicate ear to kiss the shell. “Do I make you want to be touched?” He watched the dream eater bite his lip, worrying it with his perfect teeth. Dark eyes were lost in want, the black as deep as the dreamscape surrounding them. Pale fingers tightened in the purple garment.

“Please,” he sighed, closing his eyes when Hisoka rocked against him. “I’ve never felt this before.”

The desire for more went unspoken, but not unheard. Hisoka sank his teeth into Chrollo’s shaking shoulder, intent on leaving his mark in as many places as possible even as he thrust forward, sinking into the creature with a moan.

Everything was perfect. Hot, smooth, and blissfully tight, Chrollo opened up around him as if he were made for Hisoka and Hisoka alone.

Chrollo cried out, tearing at the fabric in his hands, his eyes wide and wet once Hisoka began to move. With his thigh up and locked in place, he could only writhe and claw at the ground, his lips parting to moan with every thrust. He looked drunk on the pleasure, weak to the unfamiliar feelings Hisoka was lavishing him with.

Hisoka wanted to drown him until all he knew was his touch.

He reached down between them to work Chrollo off, grinding his hips to him, searching for the angle that would send the dream eater screaming. It didn’t take long to find, and Chrollo let out a strangled mewl, his shaking hands tearing through the delicate silk.

“Hi…Hisoka,” he managed, his expression enough to make Hisoka sweat. “Hisoka, I feel so…”

“What do you feel?” he pressed, bending Chrollo nearly in two so he could reach his lips for a sloppy kiss.

It took him a moment to try and speak once they broke apart, no breath left to spare. Tears poured down his cheeks, matting his dark hair where it touched his damp skin. “I can’t,” he whined, hooking his leg around Hisoka’s waist to pull them closer together. “Hisoka, I need more.”

“I’ll give you more,” he promised, lifting Chrollo a bit higher and thrusting into him harder. It sent him crying out, Hisoka shaking a little as he tried to keep himself in check. He wanted to see Chrollo come apart. All else could wait.

The dream fluttered and shook and melted around them, its inky depths deepening the more Chrollo lost control of himself. It may have been Hisoka’s dream, his subconscious, but he had no illusions on who held more power here. Sweat rolled down his face as he fractured with it, gripping Chrollo tighter to make him break first.

When he finally came, Chrollo tightened and then went lax, choking on his ragged breathes as he melted into the sea of purple silk. The sleeves, still somehow miraculously on his arms, were dragged over his face, hiding him from sight while Hisoka finished himself off with his hand. He came on Chrollo’s inner thighs, making them glisten like stardust.

“I think you’ve ruined me, Chrollo,” Hisoka said, collapsing next to him. “What could ever compare in my waking days to what you promise in my dreams?” The silk felt so smooth and decadent against his bare skin, the creature even more so. He kissed the soft black hair, unable to get enough of him.

“It’s not too late to give you a nightmare,” Chrollo sniped, hiding his face in Hisoka’s chest when he found himself pulled against him. “Maybe that will curb you of your desire to sleep.” Huddled up as he was in his robe, there was little he could do to shove himself away anyway.

Hisoka hummed, nuzzling into the soft, obsidian hair with his cheek. “The only nightmare I can imagine is never holding you like this again.” He peppered all he could reach with kisses, only doubling the assault when he noticed Chrollo grimace. “Why don’t we do it again, and we can chase the ghost of that idea from this place?”

Chrollo’s eyes went wide and he began to struggle almost immediately.

“You’re the worst human I’ve ever had the displeasure to speak to,” he insisted, wriggling away to redress himself and escape the affection. “I hope you enjoy your last few seconds of sanity. I think I’m taking it with me—”

He was cut off when Hisoka pinned him to the ground, sealing their lips together in a deep, breath-stealing kiss. There was no hiding how he smiled into it, knowing all too well that the only thing Chrollo would be taking with him was a new appreciation for Hisoka’s touch, his taste, and his kiss.

“You already drive me insane,” he teased against the dream eater’s lips once he pulled away, feeding the words to him as Chrollo chased the touch. “I’d build my bed beneath a willow if it meant my every dream were filled with visions of you.”

Chrollo turned away, letting Hisoka’s mouth fall to his neck. It was plain to see that he was overwhelmed. His skin was littered with marks, his disheveled robe doing a poor job of hiding any of it. He resembled little the pristine doll Hisoka had first stumbled upon, and like this, lost in the deep blackness of his eyes, he could admit that Chrollo had never looked lovelier.

“You’re terrible,” Chrollo muttered, breaking their stare to look off into the darkness, the swirling environment more a reflection of his mood than Hisoka’s.

“And you’re the sweetest dream I’ve ever had,” Hisoka gave back, praying it would never end.

Chrollo frowned and ruefully turned back to him, leaning his head up to press a soft kiss to Hisoka’s chin. “You’re going to wake up soon,” he murmured, a slender hand raising to cup his cheek, “and I still haven’t gotten my meal.”

Hisoka leaned into the soft touch. “What do you need to be able to eat?” he asked, kissing the palm of his hand. “Do you really have to give me a nightmare?”

The creature smiled, small and demure, his cheeks pink. “I think you’ve given me plenty to work with already,” he whispered, kissing him shyly. “Just close your eyes and don’t be afraid. You’ll wake up after this.”

Something odd settled over him and Hisoka furrowed his brow. “If you eat this dream, will I remember it?”

Chrollo bit his lip and looked away again, staring into the swirling darkness. It was answer enough.

Sighing, Hisoka held him tighter. “You’ll remember it at least, won’t you?”

“I will. I remember them all,” he said, and when his hand moved to cover his eyes, Hisoka let him. “You’ll find me again, Hisoka. You’re too persistent to not.”

He managed to smile a little. That was certainly true.

Soft lips brushed his own, and that was the last thing he felt before he awoke to the morning sun, filtered through the willow branches. Hisoka sighed, rolling onto his shoulder to stretch.

Another failed attempt. Another night without a dream. He forced himself to his feet and grabbed for his pack. The morning dew clung to him like a lover and he moved into the sunlight, letting the warm air dry it from his skin.

Oh well, he thought. He’d just try again tonight.

He’d have to find him eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

With the way his nights were becoming, Hisoka was giving serious consideration towards building a home in a grove of willows. It would save him the trouble of hunting the trees down come evening. He tossed down his pack and followed it to the soft grass, laying with it beneath his head. The night was far off yet, but he knew better than to risk napping beneath any other tree.

Weeks after their initial, and only, meeting, Hisoka readily admit that he was all too obsessed with the hope of finally holding the creature in his arms again.

Traveling didn’t always guarantee that he’d stumble upon them. Setting up a permanent residence might grant him a better chance of finally reuniting with his dream eater.

Closing his eyes to the thin sunlight filtering through the boughs, Hisoka smiled. Today, he thought to himself. Today he had a good feeling.

He tried not to think about how he felt that way every day. It would be different. One of these days he’d have to get it right. Why couldn’t it be today?

Weariness came slowly to him, its gentle fingers smoothing over him like the path of the sun along the ground. Warm and soft, it tugged him from awareness until sleep finally claimed him.

Like the first time it had happened, Hisoka knew that he was dreaming with company lurking somewhere out of sight. A grin tore across his face. Optimism wasn’t a flag he waved often, but today, for the first time in ages, it had paid off for him.

Chrollo was here, hiding amongst the somnolent darkness and penumbra. He just had to find him.

Instinct told him that his eyes were useless in this landscape, so he closed them, letting his senses take root in the dream. Every shift of shadow registered to him, the susurrations of his breath stirring the black like ink poured in water.

On the very edge of what he could perceive, he felt a presence, small and still and familiar in a way that spoke of his obsession. Like a man possessed, he moved towards it, seeking the flame calling out to him like a siren.

He opened his eyes and saw him on the ground, wrapped in his diaphanous robe and turned away from him. There was no sign of the mirth that had greeted him the last time. Chrollo hid his face from him, looking steadfastly at the abyssal floor with no indication that he had registered Hisoka’s presence.

The figure didn’t move as he approached, and Hisoka was too aware of what Chrollo was to think that he hadn’t heard him approach. Every inch he traversed made him hunch over more. It looked as if Chrollo were hiding from him, despondent and depressed like a rose denied the sun.

“Why are you so sad?” Hisoka asked gently, lowering himself to his knees to inch closer to the creature of his dreams. “Aren’t you happy to see me? I finally found you again.”

Chrollo didn’t shrink away from his touch, but he didn’t lean into it the way Hisoka had expected. “You found me,” he murmured, twisting the fabric of his sleeves between his hands. Dark eyes looked up, just enough to meet Hisoka’s. “You always seem to find me.”

The dream stood static, a sharp contrast to the amorphous shape it had taken the last time he was here. He drew his hand along the slim arm, settling them so that the dream eater’s back rested against his chest.

“Are you alright?” he asked, unsure of this mood shift. Nothing of the mischievous creature seemed to remain, and he couldn’t think the difference was mere coincidence.

Black eyes, endlessly black, met his own. “I’m horrible for you,” he whispered, running his fingers over Hisoka’s knuckles. “You have no idea how bad I am.”

He huddled closer, wanting nothing more than to chase away this coolness with the warmth tempting him near. “How can you say that?” he asked, kissing gently along the pale neck. “I’ve only just found you.”

Chrollo gripped his hand tight, forcing him to look at him. “Hisoka, we’ve spent every night together.” Bone white teeth worried a bottom lip, and Chrollo’s expression was pained. “You don’t remember anything, do you?”

Confusion bled through the air between them. “What do you mean?” Hisoka pressed, his brow furrowed. “Remember what?” He couldn’t imagine forgetting any part of their time together. The days he spent searching for a dream…he would know if they had met again.

Burying his face in his hands, Chrollo hid himself from Hisoka’s sight. “I’ve eaten them all,” he mumbled through his fingers. “I let you have me, and then I took the memories from you. We’ve spent every night together since we met, Hisoka.” He looked up, his lips trembling. “You won’t stop sleeping beneath my willows.”

The words fell with all the weight of a crashing anvil. “How could I ever stop? You consume my every thought,” he breathed, taking the hands so they stopped hiding the dream eater’s face. “You’re the sweetest dream I’ve ever had.”

“You can’t see lies when the lights are off, can you?” Chrollo sighed, smiling sadly at their joined hands. “I’m not a benevolent creature, Hisoka. I’m a parasite.”

“You’re ethereal,” Hisoka disagreed, leaning in to kiss him. He didn’t care about any of that. Throwing caution to the wind was his way of life. “You can take all my memories of our nights together, but you can’t take the desire I feel when I think of you.”

Chrollo looked up at him finally, his dark eyes pitying. “Do you love me?” he asked, leaning into the hand Hisoka rested on his cheek.

Hisoka stroked his cheekbone. “I adore you,” he said to soft, pale lips. The creature sighed, turning away from his touch. “What’s wrong?” he pressed, tilting Chrollo’s chin up. “Is that not enough?”

“I can’t stop eating for you,” he whispered, hiding his face in Hisoka’s chest. “You’ll never remember the time we have together. You’ll never remember how many times we’ve had this conversation.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t know if this wasn’t the first time he’d heard this.

All he knew was that he had Chrollo in his arms, and that this time, in this moment, he knew it was real.

Hisoka wasn’t going to let go. Not for anything.

“You will though,” Hisoka said, holding Chrollo close as he laid him out on the floor. “If I can give you good memories and a good meal, I’ll be happy. Don’t change who you are because of me. I want you because you’re you.”

“You’re such an odd human,” Chrollo laughed, covering his face. “Why are you like this?”

He didn’t have an answer to that, so he settled with unwrapping Chrollo from his cerulean robe. Warm skin met his fingertips and it was ineffable to think that this wasn’t the first time they had touched. How many times had he taken Chrollo down to the bare essence of what he was? Hisoka ran his tongue along sweet lips, slipping past to kiss him as deeply as he knew how.

“I wish you could survive on my touch alone,” he murmured, taking Chrollo in hand to make him moan. “You’re so beautiful, Chrollo.”

Delicate fingers threaded through his hair, holding him closer as Chrollo writhed. “You’re too much,” the dream eater gasped, his thighs falling open. “I’d never be able to take it all.”

Hisoka grinned and kissed his cheek, eager to banish the melancholy still clinging to the creature’s dark eyes. “How many times have we done this? You’ve seemed to manage just fine this far.” Carefully, he tugged himself out of Chrollo’s grip, moving down his body to lick and kiss the perfect heat greeting him.

His lips tingled and he moaned, making Chrollo cry out. How could he ever forget this taste? Chrollo was so sweet and warm, resting on his tongue perfectly. The hands reattached to his hair, holding him in place and guiding him faster and faster, until Chrollo’s thighs shook with his approaching climax.

“Hisoka, Hisoka,” he cried, trembling like a leaf in the wind. “What are you doing?”

He hummed and moved his tongue faster, loving the feeling of the slender thighs wrapped around his head. Chrollo looked so gorgeous, laid out before him in the sea of silk. The fingers tightened almost painfully in his hair, yanking when he finally lost what control he had left.

Chrollo moaned brokenly, his grip harsh before it went lax. “Hisoka,” he gasped, his body boneless and malleable in his hands. Hisoka swallowed what was in his mouth, kissing the still shivering thighs.

In all his days, he’d never seen anything so beautiful as the creature below him.

“Aren’t you going to…” he started, rolling into Hisoka’s arms the moment he crawled back up. His dark eyes were bright in the darkness, reflecting some unseen and uncaring light. “Hisoka, why aren’t you doing more?”

Hisoka smiled, kissing Chrollo’s cheek. “Do I always do more? Perhaps I want this dream to be all about you,” he crooned, feeling how he shook when he heard the rasp in Hisoka’s voice.

The creature hid his face, holding Hisoka as tight as he could. His pale skin shone like starlight, illuminating all he cared to see. “I want you to remember this,” Chrollo whispered. Hisoka could hear his heart breaking in the words.

Tucking a lock of hair behind his ear, Hisoka put on a gentle smile. “Don’t worry about me,” he said, leaning up for a kiss. “There will be other nights. You’re so good at making me fall for you, night after night. Let me enjoy you for as long as I can.”

Chrollo buried his face in Hisoka’s chest, his narrow shoulders falling. His fingers tightened in the fabric of his robe and he kissed Hisoka’s neck. “You’re going to wake soon,” he breathed, the dream shuddering.

“Then we haven’t much time left, have we?”

A pale, perfect face looked up, and Chrollo leaned in to kiss him deeply.

They broke apart, and it was Hisoka’s turn to gasp. “What was that for?” he asked, cradling Chrollo’s face in his hands.

“Looks like we’re both going hungry tonight,” Chrollo smiled weakly, and Hisoka had no time to even be confused.

He awoke with a start from the dream, his body weak and his skin chilled with cold sweat. The ghostly weight of his dreamlike lover still hovered over him. Hisoka’s eyes went wide and he looked up into the boughs of the tree, as if expecting Chrollo to be among the branches, staring down at him with the melancholic expression he wore like jewels.

Hisoka dragged his fingers through his hair. Chrollo hadn’t eaten it.

He hadn’t eaten this dream.

Looking up at the autumnal afternoon sky, Hisoka let out a sigh. He’d been given a gift, he realized. This time, he’d been left with answers. Biting his lip, he grabbed for his flattened pack and hoisted it around his shoulder.

There were many more miles to go before darkness hit. No matter the distance, he’d be sure to lay his head beneath a willow again, if only to properly thank Chrollo for the kindness of the memory.

And pay him back for the meal he gave up in exchange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is another prompt week thing too, "you can't see lies when the lights are off". hope you enjoyed it! let me know how you liked it, if you'd be kind enough to leave a comment.


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